


Why Wake Up?

by GenuinelyTricked



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Character Death, Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 21:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GenuinelyTricked/pseuds/GenuinelyTricked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing lasts forever, not even musical singing automatons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Wake Up?

It had been seven months now since The Jon had used up the last of the Crystal Pepsi. He had ignored all cautions and warning to try not to burn through it too quickly, but The Jon had paid them no heed.

Running around, climbing things, poking his nose where it shouldn’t have been. The Jon kept running full tilt until one morning he just didn’t power up again.

Rabbit had insisted on placing his body next to Delilah; any arguments had been quickly silenced by Rabbit picking The Jon up and carrying him down to the large clockwork beast. Rabbit had posed his body so that it looked as though The Jon was sleeping curled up next to Delilah.

Since then, Rabbit’s already frequent twitches and stuttering had gotten worse. Happening more often and for longer periods of time. A few weeks ago he had stuttered over a word for a minute before he could finish his sentence. Just the other day he was stuck holding a note for a few hours before getting himself unstuck.

Every day that passed The Spine worried that Rabbit wouldn’t wake up, wouldn’t turn on. The he would be the last of the musical group to still be alive.

The Spine gave a small sigh and shook his head as if to dispel the unpleasant thoughts. For now Rabbit was still alive, and the Spine would do his best to focus on that. Nothing lasted forever, not even robots; but The Spine could still do his best to live every day.

A small explosion sounded from somewhere in the mansion and The Spine raised an eyebrow. There was no shortage of things blowing up in the Walter Mansion for any given reason and it sounded small enough that no one was likely hurt, but The Spine had a feeling that he should go and check things out.  He blamed his training and experience with the military, but here was a tiny nagging feeling that this was something he should check on.

He made his way towards the sound and found what he assumed was the source of the noise. A small crowd of people and bots was gathered around a doorway that had a thin trail of smoke wafting from it. The Spine casually made his way through the throng, not seeing the mournful and sympathetic looks on their faces as he passed.

He stopped in the middle of the doorway and looked at the scene in the room in front of him. He felt a sinking feeling in his chassis.

Rabbit lay splayed out on the floor, his limbs pointing at odd angles. The smoke that was drifting out of the room was coming from out of the vent on Rabbit’s cheeks. His head was turned towards the door, seeming to stare at The Spine. The eyes neither bright with life, nor even dull and turned off; they had burned out completely. The bulbs of his eyes had small blotches of soot on them from the filament burning out.

Prying his eyes from Rabbit’s body he saw that Mr. Reed was kneeling over it, a wrench in his hand as he tried to fervently loosen the rusty bolts that held Rabbit’s chassis together to try to get at his power core. Peter Walter VI was elbow deep in a box of parts, looking for a spare pair of eyes for Rabbit The Spine guessed.

“What’s going on?” The Spine said flatly.

Peter Walter VI and Mr. Reed looked up at the same time.

Reed started to speak. “Rabbit was talking to us about a little tune up when he-”

“Rabbit broke down.” Peter VI stated plainly and firmly. “He started to twitch and there was a bang. He fell and now we’re going to fix him.”

The Spine stared at the two of them for a moment. “His eyes. What happened to his eyes.”

Mr. Reed leaned over and took a look at Rabbit’s burnt out eyes. He swallowed hard before looking back to The Spine.

“They must have burned out as he glitched.” He turned to Peter VI. “See if you can’t find any bulbs in there while you’re looking.” Turning back to Rabbit, he started once more to work at the bolts keeping Rabbit pieced together.

Wordlessly The Spine walked over to where Rabbit lay. He knelt down and placed a metal hand onto his automaton brother. There was no hum of the power core inside of him, no slight buzz within his chest. The last time Rabbit had been like this, his power core had been stolen and he had lain dead until it had been returned.

This was not a simple glitch. Peter Walter VI couldn’t fix this with any of the spare parts that lay around the many workrooms of the mansion.

Rabbit’s power core had died.

There was no way to fix this. If they couldn’t fix The Jon when his power ran down, how could they ever hope to fix Rabbit?

Without a word The Spine picked up Rabbit and stood, Mr. Reed giving a started cry. The Spine walked out of the room, the crowd at the door parting quietly as he passed. Peter Walter VI was saying something to him, but The Spine ignored him as he made his way to the workshop where Delilah and The Jon lay.

He stopped in front of the still pair, Rabbi’s stiff form held awkwardly in his arms. He placed Rabbit next to The Jon and carefully moved his limbs, straightening here, bending there, making it look as though he were merely resting against the clockwork giraffe, not dead. With one final touch, The Spine closed Rabbits eyelids, completing the illusion of mere sleep.

He stood and glanced at what remained of his friends, his companions, his band mates. He brought his hand up to his eyes and felt a wetness on his face. An oily substance covered his hand; he was crying.

 _Maybe_ , The Spine thought.  _Maybe tomorrow I just won’t wake up._


End file.
